Page 2 of Double Edged Hearts
That was the past and our lives are different now. Mine is very different.
He must know we can’t be together.
He must know what I am now.
He’s a mobster, and I’m a federal agent.
Hewouldknow that. I’ve seen how his people work, and there’s not a damn thing they don’t know.
I knew I shouldn’t have gone to our spot, but I went anyway. It’s the secret garden by the river where he first kissed me. That’s where I always meet him when I’m here in Chicago.
Part of me hoped he wouldn’t find me, and if he didn’t, it would mean he moved on and forgot me. So I could forget him too.
Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe I needed closure. Something to truly come to an end in my mind. Something more than when I left his bed years ago and never returned.
I still my breath and try to calm the arousal that’s clawing at my insides.
We can’t be together anymore.That’s what I need to tell myself.
He must know that, but does he care?
I don’t give a fuck what she is.
I’m walking on shaky ground just being here amongst a group of feds who would love to see my ass behind bars for something they could pin on me. I don’t care though.
I didn’t get to where I am by caring about shit like that.
What I care about is her.
I still care after all these years, and it would have been better for us both if she’d stayed away. A woman like her has too much power over me. I don’t want to be a slave to emotion, but that’s what she does to me.
It’s almost laughable. I’m Alex Bellantoni, third capo to Claudius Morientz, the biggest boss of them all in this city. I shouldn’t be anybody’s love-sick fool, yet this woman has me wrapped around her finger, making me put everything at risk to come here for a taste of her.
I have a choice. I can leave now that I’ve seen her, and she’ll sense I’ve gone. She’ll know that means this is goodbye.
Or… I can do what we always do.
I can lure her down the path of temptation like the devil I am and claim her.
As she runs her fingers over her cheek and down…slowly… down her elegant neck, the lure of temptation seeps into my mind.
Temptation calls to me to take my doll and make her mine again.
Like an obedient servant, I answer the call and take my next step, giving in to desire. I smile when she stands up.
It will be interesting to see what happens next.
I tried to fight the yearning burning me up from the inside out, but I failed.
I get on the elevator and head up to my room on the fifteenth floor. The second I step out, I feel his presence even stronger. It’s so powerful I turn and look behind me, but he’s not there. No one is. It’s just me standing in the corridor.
I head to my room, and that’s where his presence grips me again so tight I can barely breathe. I’ve never met a man who could have such an effect on me.
The room is dark, and the sliding doors are open, allowing the breeze to waft in and lift the chiffon curtains hanging by the windows.
Musk tickles my nose, and the hint of tobacco.
I release a ragged breath and decide to confront him.
